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Can my Laptop run GTA IV?

Forum Games General : PC Gaming - Can my Laptop run GTA IV?

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hitmanpope   07-08-2009 at 02:41:15 AM

Hello, I was going to buy GTA IV for my laptop. But am wondering how well my specs would run the game?

Specs:

2.66ghz T9550 Dual core
4GB 800mhz RAM
256 ATI Radeon 4570
320GB Hard drive


Will be playing at a resolution of 1366x768


Message edited by hitmanpope on 07-08-2009 at 02:43:04 AM
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Confused Stu   07-08-2009 at 05:29:44 PM
- 0 +

The good news is that resolution doesn't make much of a difference in GTA4, so that shouldn't be a problem (I only had to drop "View Distance" by one moving from 1600x1200 to 1920x1200 to keep it at the same speed).

The bad news is that GTA4 benefits greatly from having a tri or quad core to run on. The internet is full of people with great graphics setups and fast dual cores moaning about the game being very slow and unplayable on their systems. I have a quad running at 3.5GHz and dual 1Gb 4870's and I still get frame rates dropping into the 20s occasionally. Personally, I think your PC will struggle to play it, even with graphics turned down. Nothing against your laptop specs (they shame my lapop by miles) but GTA4 is just THAT hard to run.

Hopefully someone with your exact setup (or close to it) will post to give you a definite yes or no, but if not I'd hate you to waste your money on a game that winds up being unplayable. If I was in your position, I would download a copy of the game (*ahem*) and try it to see how it runs on your setup. If it's not playable, uninstall it and you've lost nothing. If it is playable, then uninstall it and buy a genuine copy and start enjoying a very fun game and online mode.

Good luck.

Reply to Confused Stu
Confused Stu   07-08-2009 at 05:36:34 PM
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Can't seem to edit my last post, so I just want to add that I realise your laptop meets the minimum specs easily:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] quirements
But in most games cases the minimum specs mean "will play, don't expect it to look pretty". In GTA, the minimum means "will install, don't expect to be able to play it though". This is because the game is CPU-bound and so you haven't got the option of dropping graphics to get FPS up to playable - without a high-ish end CPU, it's never going to be playable.

Reply to Confused Stu
ainarssems   07-12-2009 at 12:59:30 PM
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You should be able to play at somewhat low settings but it will be really hard on Your laptop which means lot of heat. I do not know about Your laptop but most of laptops have too weak cooling system to let it run at 100% load continuosly so they overheatand throttle down speed and start lagging.

I would not buy game just to see if it works. If You can borrow game from someone to see if ti works (or torrent). And if You are happy how it it works then buy it.

I have never bought a game before trying it borrowed or downloaded. You would not buy a car without testdrive would You?

Reply to ainarssems
xtream_ocer_intel_nvidia   07-12-2009 at 04:21:50 PM
- 0 +

ummm, NO

------------------------------ The Meaning Of Life
Sometimes it's a chicken,
Sometimes it's a chair,
Sometimes its a piece of cheese suspended in the air
 Reply to xtream_ocer_intel_nvidia
enewmen   07-15-2009 at 04:50:53 AM
- 0 +

No.

Most of the notebook seems OK. But the video card should be at least 1gb (a 4800 series is better) and quad core will help.
GTA4 isn't the most demanding game, it's just isn't a good console to PC port. You may find a more demanding game, like Warhead will actually run more smoothly on your notebook. Download and run a demo if you can (like others have suggested)

Reply to enewmen
lenlorijn   09-26-2009 at 09:10:20 PM
- 0 +

I have the same CPU and a geforce 9700M GT. I can put graphics on high or low it doesnt matter, it runs just as slow. Frame rates of about 10-15 pfs. Sometimes it runs smooth for lik a minute an then goes slow again. It's unplayable.
This CPU great it just cant handle GTA4. Too bad.....

Reply to lenlorijn
OvrClkr   09-29-2009 at 11:22:10 PM
- 0 +

Don't even try it, I have a dell xps 1530 2.5Ghz C2D with a 8600m GT/4GB DDR 800 and it lags like crazy no matter what settings you use... Of course it is playable once there is nothing going on but who plays the game just to walk around......

1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)

------------------------------ 550 @ 4.0 Ghz 1.425v
BFG GTX 260 (216)
4GB G.Skill @ 940MHz
Thermaltake TP 850w
Reply to OvrClkr
OfflineNotification   09-30-2009 at 07:46:11 AM
- 0 +

It's best to ask advice from the technical support. Thanks. Good luck.

Reply to OfflineNotification
sbdragon89   09-30-2009 at 04:29:32 PM
- 0 +

I got (you guys will laugh @ me)
Pentuim D 2.8ghz,
2gb ddr2 ram
xfx 8500gt 512mb
windows 7 system
And when i play the game half graphics dont even load !! lol it just well empty world with now and then things showing texture, so got no clue what up with that

Reply to sbdragon89
sparky13   10-01-2009 at 03:30:59 PM
- 0 +

GTA 4 as a port just wasn't handled very well. If u have access to an XBOX or PS3 I would go that route. My system is pretty good but I didn't even bother after playing on a friend's pc of similar specs. Sorry to say it would struggle mightily on your laptop and would cut your enjoyment of an otherwise fantastic game. PASS.

Reply to sparky13
geekay007   10-29-2009 at 03:06:39 AM
- 0 +

Same here. Don't even bother with a laptop. The game is very resource hungry. There are too many possible glitches in the game that I'm never buying any of the crap Rockstar may be peddling in the future. Forget about getting any answers from them. They won't reply. This game is a lemon on the PC.

Reply to geekay007
santa2142   10-29-2009 at 04:28:35 AM
- 0 +

well, with some patches the game runs pretty well, only dont set to far the view distance and low the shadows, and play, the only problem I got with the 3rd patch is that the camera was mooving as if I were drunk all the time, but havent tried to play since than. passed all the game half a year ago on medium graphics and no shadows, great story btw.


-----------------------------------------
PC gamer forever
-----------------------------------------
Destcop: core2 quad 6600 2.5ghz| 8gb ram ocz ddr2 800mhz| Nvidia nForce 780i motherboard| seagate 500gb 7200rpm HDD| 260gtx 896mb| asus H243H 24'' 1080p monitor| Cooler Master case

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